This invention relates to an infant nursing device, more particularly to a device for permitting an infant to ingest by means of a nipple a liquid contained in a nursing bottle remote from the nipple, and to a device for cleaning the nursing device.
It is sometimes desired to nurse an infant by means of a nursing bottle while not otherwise attending to the infant. To this end, a care provider may, for example, lie an infant on the mattress of a crib or baby carriage and prop up the bottle by means of pillows or folded blankets or the like to elevate the bottom of the bottle, whereupon the infant suckles upon the nipple. This is unsatisfactory in more than one respect. The bottle is prone to fall from its propping support. Also, the infant may choke on the nursing bottle liquid contents because vigorous sucking by the infant may provide an excessive flow of the liquid since the nipple is continually filed by gravity. The latter is not a problem when one is feeding an infant in one's arms or otherwise attending the infant during feeding, because one is there to withdraw the nipple from the infant's mouth at the onset of choking. This is not, however, the case when the infant is unattended while suckling on the nipple of a propped bottle.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a device to permit an infant to suckle on a nursing bottle while unattended without risk of the infant's suckling being interrupted by dislocation of the bottle and without risk of the infant ingesting the nursing bottle liquid contents so rapidly as to choke.
More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a device for permitting an infant to ingest the nursing bottle liquid contents by means of a nipple remote from the bottle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a device for cleaning the infant nursing device of the invention.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following descriptions of the invention.